8 things that Microsoft needs to fix in Windows Phone 8 right now

With the release of BlackBerry 10 this week, Microsoft has even more fresh blood for competition in the smartphone business. While one could argue that it is still Android or iOS that Microsoft is up against, the picture painted for spring 2013 is one of stiff competition and a fight for the third spot.

Windows Phone 8 has made great strides in making Redmond’s mobile OS much better than its predecessor, most importantly with the new NT kernel which will allow Microsoft to grow the OS. Having said that, there is a lot of room for improvement and we’re not just talking about touch-up features either but core aspects that need to be addressed.

Below is a list of 8 things we think Microsoft needs to fix in order for Windows Phone to really take off. We’re confident Microsoft already knows about these and in fact may have solutions in the pipeline. At least that's the hope.

Before we start we should note that Microsoft is rumored to be revealing some new features coming to Windows Phone 8 next month in Barcelona.

Traditionally Microsoft has a rather large presence at the mobile-focused conference and their absence from CES in January sets up Microsoft to gain back some momentum in the press. We’re not 100% sure Microsoft will divulge an updated OS but we’re anticipating.

Now on to the list...

#1 Notification Center

Android, iOS and especially BlackBerry 10 all have notification centers, allowing users to have a unified single area to check the status of various apps and services. On Windows Phone, Live Tiles were supposed to be that but in reality, it’s not that simple. Whether it’s an optional blinking LED or making use of the left-area of the Start screen, Microsoft needs a simple and elegant solution here. Check out this great design concept from our forums

Rumor has it they wanted this for the release of Windows Phone 8 but simply ran out of time. Fair enough. But it better be there in the next update or it will continue to dog the platform.

#2 Universal Search

Likewise, this feature was rumored to be coming in either Windows Phone 7.5 ‘Tango’ or Windows Phone 8, yet this function mysteriously never arrived. It seems simple enough: Hit the Bing search key to make inquiries on the web as well as within the device. Search email, SMS, within apps, documents, etc.

It’s not a radical idea and other competing OSs already have this on board. In fact, Windows 8 has a nifty search feature, allowing you to dynamically search through various apps. It’s way overdue on Windows Phone.

#3 Instagram

Yes, we hate writing about it as much as you probably loathe reading it, but the fact is until this hipster service is on Windows Phone, it will absolutely prevent people from switching. We’ve had random conversations with Best Buy and AT&T employees and even a waitress who’ve all said the same thing: until this popular photo sharing app is on Windows Phone, it will always be a deal-killer.

For the record, Microsoft and Nokia know how important this is and we don’t think it’s from lack of trying that it’s not there. But there’s more to this than just throwing money at the Facebook company and while we don’t know the details, we’re sure there are talks of some sort going on.

Regardless, it needs to be here yesterday.

#4 ‘X’ to Close Apps

This one is so simple and yet Microsoft has yet to do it. In the card view of multitasking apps, just give us an ‘X’ to tap out an app.

C’mon Microsoft, the paradigm already exists with multiple Tabs in Internet Explorer—just extend it to apps. It’s simple to do and it will make many folks happy (even if it is arguably unnecessary).

#5 Better Xbox Gaming

We’ve been beating this horse for a while now (see our continuing series) but it does need to be mentioned again. Xbox gaming on Windows Phone since day one has been underwhelming.

It is embarrassing that Microsoft has not been able to fully leverage the Xbox 360 with Windows Phone in 2012 or 2013 and it needs to be fixed.

Just look at the video above of Microsoft’s Eric Rudder demonstrating the gaming potential between PC, Xbox and Windows Phone and the game ‘Indiana Jones’. We covered that story back in March 2010.—nearly three years ago--need we say more?

#6 Folders

Yup, here’s one that iOS and Android have given into and now have solutions for: folders. The idea being that some of us may have multiple media apps that we want grouped together, or a bunch of pins we want rounded up in a quick access folder. It’s a simple thing and becomes increasingly necessary as people add more apps, pins and tiles to their devices. Windows 8 makes use of “grouping” and Windows Phone needs to as well.

#7 Independent volume and profiles

Smartphones are called as much because they are supposed to be smart meaning we shouldn’t have to do certain tasks. Having our phones switch audio and notification profiles for home, work, movie theaters, etc. goes back to Windows Mobile and apps like PhoneAlarm. Why do they not exist on Windows Phone?

Likewise, let’s finally give users the ability to control the ringer volume independent of system/game volume, same with an easier way of going ‘silent’.

#8 Fix Xbox Music and Video

The whole three-screens-and-a-cloud vision only works if your media can truly transcend devices. Microsoft hit the reset button on their media services with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 and while there are to be expected growing pains, they really need to get that system on track. With the amount of DRM errors for music and the inability to watch Xbox Videos on our phones, it’s a real hindrance.

Hope for 2013

So those are our Top Eight major things Microsoft needs to sort out. Is that an exhaustive list? Certainly not.

Other features like the ability to force-check app updates, fix YouTube (perhaps out of Microsoft’s hands), a more powerful email client or even making Windows 8 gestures and Tile functionality overlap with Windows Phone to give users the same experience are all up for grabs.

Like we said, we’re sure hoping that Microsoft addresses all or some of these in the near-term, specifically in Barcelona. We have a feeling that they are and for the platform’s sake, they better. BlackBerry is now breathing down our necks and Android and iOS are so far ahead in the market it’s borderline scary.

Microsoft has a solid foundation with Windows Phone 8. Let’s see them quickly build on it.

Reader comments

8 things that Microsoft needs to fix in Windows Phone 8 right now

#1 - Notification Center:
I'd be okay with it as long as I NEVER HAVE TO USE IT. Ugh. Such an Android/IOS thing.. GROSS!

Microsoft: Don't ruin your beautiful OS with a cluttered up notification center and duplicate information! Give some development api leeway to Third Party Apps to satisfy the Android/IOS "lovers" or make it to where I can disable it...

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I echo most of the comments here. It's really sad that when it comes down to it, we've traded apps (of which we STILL can't get the ones all our friends use) for the basic functions my Windows Mobile 5.0 device had 8yrs ago. I've been through every incarnation and at least a dozen Windows devices (which I can remember) since and currently use a Lumia 920. My latest gripe is tracking my time for phone support for my job. There's a call timer during my call but no way to recall it. Ridiculous. My HTC 8125 did this. I do love the Windows Phone UI, but WHY at the SACRIFICE of BASIC PHONE FUNCTIONS???

a file manager would be nice add up dont you think? its one of the thing i missed on wp8 since i got my L920..among other things. will wait it out patiently. when i checked my phone storage, i see 2 gb of files eating my other section on phone storage. i'd like to see what those files are and remove them if i found them useless.

I guess microsoft is not very good at listening. We have been complaining since WP7.0 for separate volume setting. It's pretty sad that WP8 still doesn't have that simple setting. I don't think it's a hard thing to do for microsoft. I hate this "apple" way of thinking by microsoft where apple assume their users are stupid, so make it as simple as possible, "Just one button is enough".

Thanks Daniel, I couldn't agree more with this list. Speaking of better Xbox Video integration, does anyone have any idea why on Windows 8 that Microsoft decided to call the Xbox Video app "Video". I don't know why but that drives me insane.

My own personal wish list:
1) Notifications need to be fixed. I want a central repository to see the previous notifications, and a way to remove notifications from the top of the screen when they are unwanted. Perhaps a notification manager as well so taht I can turn off notifications for specific apps. Win8 needs this too.
2) Music is awesome and sucks all at the same time. DRM needs to be fixed, and files need to be able to be sorted by disc order instead of only alphabetical order. Podcast lists need to be able to keep track of where you are at, several that I listen to are stuck on a few numbers and refuse to move on. When you mark it as listened to it refuses to download the next one. If you delete it then it will move on for a while, but after a few episodes it will go back to where it is stuck all over again.
-also, xbox music needs to be on win8 as well, and all podcast lists and music library needs to be synced across devices.
3) Options about the way the sceen and buttons react. Rotation lock is needed. But we also need a way to turn off the back/win/search buttons when playing games and such. And lastly, we need to have more OS level panoramic options. The start screen especially. I mean, most of the start screens are already squares, how hard could it be to rotate them when you are using sideways applicaitons?
4) Download manager needs to be fixed. It does a great job at using wifi over cellular, and switching between the two when needed, but some other things are broken. If there is an error on one DL, it should not stop other things from DLing. It should simply be paused, and then move on to the next item on the list.
5) I need to be able to search for work contacts from things like the email manager. I can go through the people hub, select someone from my outlook/exchange, and then send them an email. But if I am in the email client and try to search for a contact that lives in exchange (or any other contact list other than the native phone list), then it struggles or fails.
6) Word in specific, and office in general, needs a lot of improvement. Advanced formatting is often not recognized, there is no kind of print layout preview, and older/simpler documents are not able to be edited (which is just dumb). PDF also needs to be able to be viewed/exported like it is in real Word. And lastly, as WP8 can supposedly support win8 drivers, it would be really nice to be able to have native print functionality. Even basic PCL drivers would be a huge help.
Powerpoint equally sucks, and needs a ton of work, but Excel and OneNote both seem fine enough for mobile use, but could also be imporved.
Other than that though I really love my Lumia920. It is a solid phone, everything works really fast, great cameras and features, and to be honest Android and iOS also have major problems... just different problems.

How about let apps have more control on SD card folders?
As a browser, our app would always include download feature. But there's no way to let user copy their downloaded files to other devices because the system won't open the API for shared folders.
Only way we can do was "sync to music folder" and every file will be named as *.mp3

It is probably not a Windows Phone thing, but Microsoft _really_ needs to fix their service availability across the entire world. Podcasts not even an option on the device, Xbox Music Pass (or the service) not in other parts of the world, Bing being feature incomplete in the rest of the world, all add up and make the Windows Phone experience seem broken or lacking when compared to iOS and Android. This definitely needs to be sorted out.
Next, is the update situation. Yes, it went off well with AT&T and Rogers and now it is slowly rolling out to others, but these things need to be globally rolled out, and I would hope to see more than 2-3 releases a year. Remember when Android was catching up to iOS? They were iterating almost to the point that drove many folks crazy ... every week there would be a phone which made the previous week's phone irrelevant. Windows Phone needs to realize they have to fix holes quickly. For example, like you said, Xbox Video. Another one that really bothers me at work, is lack of VPN.
One more: how about getting 1st party apps like Nokia Drive, Skype, etc. out of beta? It is absolutely unacceptable that more than a quarter after release of the OS and devices, we still have to wait for Skype to come out of beta.
And this is not a "fix" but a sorely needed "feature" - just like they allowed VoIP providers to integrate with the OS, how about expanding that to Messaging? Why not let WhatsApp threads show up under Messaging?
My $0.02 :-)

There are a lot more important things than Instagram that would benefit this OS.
- Better maps. Bing maps is so far behind Google's offering on Android. No reroute feature. No layers.
- The music player is atrocious, retarded and unintuitive. It sucks.
- No favorites option in Contacts.
- A pet peeve of mine with almost all smartphones is that when you receive a call from a contact for whom you have multiple phone numbers, there is no way of telling which particular number that contact used.
- IE is almost pedestrian compared to browser functionality in other OS.
- The pictures hub needs more functionality. For eg, the basic ability to select multiple photos at a time.
- Copy and Paste doesn't work across all apps.
These are just some of the things

Instead of calling them "folders" call them "custom hubs" - like the People Hub, Pictures Hub, Music Hub etc. All of those hubs have apps that are specific to that area. I want to create a "Fitness Hub" and just have a list of fitness apps, or a "Translator Hub" for translation apps etc.
Alternatively, add categories or tags to the full app list - then you can have a drop-down, keyword search, or some other selector to filter the apps via the categories/tags.

Sorry but you missed a bery big important issue to be fixed as well. Find my Windows Phone. Why does that hardly ever work. Everytime I search I can never find my phone even if it's right in front of me. Nor do I ever recieve an email telling me it was located like the instructions say it will. This is also a major issue to be fixed IMO.

MS is concentrating on the next product that keeps them going, the new xbox now that windows 8 is out. No one wants to hear it but WP as of right now is lower on the food chain. thats why this list is long and could be longer. its simple, as far as instagram goes it could have been released when WP8 came out, but MS chose not to write a check for millions like they did to amazon for their apps.

To all the people complaining about the music apps...
I would suggest you to use a small mp3-player in USB-Stick format..I have great older Samsung one...but Sony has also pretty nice ones. It needs less more energy then the LUMIA or whatever other smartphone, so you have more battery life left for games, messaging etc...AND mp3-players are DEDICATED to play mp3s so easy to use etc....
Listening to mp3 on smartphones should just happen in emergency....it is just wasting battery...

Great article I agree with all of it. Why we don't have universal search or the X to close tiles thing is beyond me those are such simple thing and MS should do it. The only thing I can think with the universal search is possibly patent issues with some other company.

Face it the head of design for WP8 is and idiot. 90% of what is missing from WP8 is a just do it kind of thing. They are not difficult to implement and would not take a lot of time to do. It all points to there's an idiot at the switch.

I don't want Folders in Windows Phone 8. It's easy and simple without it. One Start screen and swipe to get 'all' your apps. What can be simpler than that? I don't want my Windows Phone to look like some Android or iOS. It's unique and different from others, that's why I bought it!
I also don't want notification center. Yeah, I definitely would like to have more apps display notification on the lock screen, which is currently fixed to 5.

I pretty much disagree with this article.
THESE ARE THE TWO things they NEED to fix right away and I'm surprised you missed it.1) PDF files - There is no way to delete or share them from the pdf app2) Business users who get a .WAV file from their cisco, shoretel, vonage, comcast systems etc. can not play the file on windows phone 8 and it worked on wp7.
Those two issues make it difficult to purchase mass quantities for business use. They need to be fixed ASAP.

As far as the issues u want fixed:
1) I had a notification center on android and it was junk. WP8 live tiles are way better, I don't see the need for an additional notification center. Toast notifications on WP8 are also much better than what I had on android.
2) Universal search? I don't like universal search and i never used it on android or palm pre. On WP8 if I want to search online I just press the search button. If I want to search for an app or contact, I know where to go. universal search would find too many results and send all my queries to msft or google.
3) never used instagram i can see why some ppl might want it though.
4) I think they should allow swiping up or down on the app switch screen to close the app instead of an X but it would be quicker than back button
5) games seem fine to me
6) would be nice but doesn't seem necessary
7) and 8) would be nice features to get fixed.

I WANT TO USE A BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD WITH MY WINDOWS PHONE!!!! Every phone previous to this generation was able to work with a BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD!!! I'm not saying that I plan to use my phone all the time to answer my email but there ARE TIMES THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE WITH YOU. I have several BLUETOOTH KEYBOARDS that are about the size of a deck of cards.

Ever since I installed portico last week I've had nothing but random reboots. I seem to have solved it by forcing the phone to only use 2G. But these random reboots users are experiencing should be number one!

If all those features came to WP8....I WOULD CRY OF HAPPINESS!
But i also hope they integrate facebook and make the app A LOT BETTER!
And maybe and HDR mode.....Sry for my Bad english and if i wrote something that makes no sense ;P

http://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/03/dear-microsoft-get-off-your-lazy-arse-and-get-instagram-on-wp-ms-do-developers-hate-you-rant/
This story at mynokiablog.com regarding Instagram having a native app on BB10 says everything that is wrong with WP7 and Microsoft.
Frankly, I've had enough of Microsoft's inept ability to be competitive in the moblie space. My Omnia 7 that I've had for over two years will now be upgraded to a GS4 in April or May of this year. My plan was to upgrade it to WP8 and still keep my GS3, but no more as I now plan to give the GS3 to my partner once I get the GS4. That's it, no more WP in my life which is a shame 'cause I really like WP.
F**k U, M$.

What about all Bing features and not only in the US (and maybe some other countries?)
What about a calendar which allows a week view?
A calendar which syncs more than 30 days in the past?
A calendar search?

There's also the whole wifi disconnection thing? When I was on 7.5 I read that it was being addressed, but I'm unclear if that happened with Windows 8 or not. My issue is mostly with email and whatsapp. Sometimes it feels that when you touch your phone it reconnects to the internet and syncs everything... And like some of the comments said, you'd check your whatsapp, read the sent the messages and then get the notificaitons.
I agree also with all the other points. I totally agree with something as lame as instagram, but I have heard people say that the lack instagram makes people reluctant to buy the phone. Non-techies do not care much about the OS or how great or fluid it is. They just want a couple of apps that everyone is talking about and MS has to do something so that when a co. releases the next Draw Something, the app won't be available on Windows when everyone doesn't care about the app anymore.

The only feature you have listed here that I have ever wished for is the separate volumes. The rest I can take or leave so I would not say this is a list that MS must fix now. I would call this a list of nice to haves.

Several start screens (different tiles collections for work and home). For example for home start screen I want to have pinned some books, videos, Web sites. For work strat screen some email boxes, documents, etc.

notification center, not such a big deal... they added that notification center to ios, and i almost never use it, unless if i want to see that weather ticker... all the icons already have a number next to them and i still use that mostly. i just go check it.

What annoys me most about windows phone is the fact that text messages pop up when u get one. If somebody is using my phone they can easily read the message. Why is it so hard to stop that from happening??? Microsoft needs to fix that!

I'd take a guess that the migration work took up all their time and caused bugs which needs further time and resources to fix.
Hopefully they have this behind them and can then concentrate on adding new features.

I just want them to fix Xbox Music personaly. The other suggestions seem more like, "please make WP8 more like android/iOS phones" I don't miss any of the items above. My ONLY complaint is I miss ZUNE ! Things were SO SO SO much easier with Zune (yes I was a lumia 900 owner) and I miss the ease. Heck Zune even could present me with suggestions I actually considered. Xbox music puts Rap and R&B as my suggestions and there are ZERO of them in my song collection, so why would it be a suggestion ? And making a playlist in xbox music.......OMFG PITA. In zune it was simple. Love my Lumia 920 and WP8, but MAN MS, GET your music app right !

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Notifications for me is the main one!! Recently came over from iOS where I was so bored of the layout, love my lumia 920, just wish my notifications came through on a more regular basis.
Live tiles are useless my weather app still doesn't update accu weather/ weather flow anybody got a fix?
would also like to to receive a notification for inbox Facebook messages. All this stuff should be so simple for Microsoft?

I would like to see easier playing of music. When I'm driving a long I don't want to have to unlock my phone, press music, then press music again, then pick and artist, then an album and possibly then a song. With the iPhone you just press the home button and couple of times and hit play.

One of the things on my list might be solved with a notification center which is the simple act of seeing what the current date is. It's on the lock screen but once phone is on unless you have a calendar tile good luck finding the date.
Another thing is that from within the app store it would be nice to see a list of what you already have installed, as well as, be able to launch. Android has had that ability for along time.

I agree with everything except folders. Windows Phone does not need folders at all. What WOULD be nice is the ability to put a bit of separation between groups of tiles, as in Windows 8's Start Screen. That's really all it needs, though. The Start Screen is fantastic just the way it is.
As for notifications, I'd simply like a single, simple notification tile that shows more or less data depending on tile size, and opens into a list of notifications once it's activated. That's it--simple.

They also HAVE TO improve on the currently abysmal calendar. No week view. A month view that is an insult. This is my number 2, that keeps me away from moving over to WP8, right after the missing notification center.

Whomever at MSFT decided to end-of-life Zune should be fired. Really big mistake. Why didn't they simply make Zune an app across all 3 screens? Then to top it off with no Spotify (yet) for WP8 and you've got a really 2nd class music experience. Major bummer.
On the other hand... the "Office" app team all deserve a bonus, well played.
Also... Video in general is a mess. No native output/access to .mp4 files (I think) really hurts. You've got cool apps like Nokia Cinemagraph, Vimeo and others that can't integrate properly with the OS. I can't record a video on my Lumia 920 and upload it later using the Vimeo app? Huh?
Overall I LOVE my Lumia 920 and tolerate the operating system, hoping it will get better.

I have been reading about WP8 and its reviews since a very long time on a lot of websites. A lot has been criticized and appreciated and a lot of suggestions have been given. Based on all this I purchased the flagship WP8 device – Lumia 920, after waiting for around 2 years to change my phone and investing some $700. And now I am stuck with a virtually unusable device. All this live tiles, closing by cross, swiping, this that is all secondary but before buying the device, I never read in a review that this OS lacks two most basic and most important functions i.e. to browse your files and organize your files as per your needs in different folders and that you can email by attaching files locally. The OS does not even support to reply to an email and then attach a file. And we are talking of a company who wants to target enterprise customers and professionals. I never in my dreams would have expected that a company like MS, with all its history of providing flexibility, can design a product lacking these basic and most useful functions for daily purposes. And that too after working on a product for more than four years, and almost on the verge of getting totally wiped out of a market which was you own turf. Android has this since last four years, is it too hard? At first I felt it cannot be true. But after trying to figure it out for some time and realizing that it is indeed not there I can only say that it is a big joke. I feel totally baffled, disgusted and cheated. They are trying very hard to shoot themselves in their foot. I am almost convinced now. And the amazing thing is that this is not being highlighted in reviews and various other coloums on WP8. Pls do this or else people like me would never be able to use this product which lacks the basic functionalities no matter how many more tit bits and glossy additions of seconday importance are added to it. MS is really testing the patience of people like me, who have been faithful and rooting for its products till now. Thanks.

No, not folders. It's the most ugly thing to implement in the phone UI.
Is iOS they did it because the problem popped up suddendly and they didn't even try to solve it in an elegant way, Android's UI is all crappy, I don't even want to go into the details.
Windows Phone had stuff like hubs from the beggining, it does pretty much the same stuff that folders would do — categorisation, but don't turn home screen into a garbage hole like Programs folder under Start button in formed Windows versions and Springboard in iOS. Folders are one of the ugly things that actually made me switch to WP from iOS.

I had a Droid Razr, and loved it. I now have the HTC 8x employee edition and love it even more.

My major complaint is unique to the Music player.

When I had my Droid Razr, I had a Winamp Pro app. One thing I loved about this app is if I had a song come on and I didn't want it on my phone, I could just hit menu, delete from phone. There is no way that I have found (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong) to completely remove a song from your phone from your now playing screen. I like to add collections of music, then when I am listening to them at work, I can delete the songs from the collections that I am not a huge fan of. This system makes it a bit more difficult.

Other than that, sliding down to close apps would be nice. I do love the tiles and actually really like NOT having a notifications grouping. Half of my notifications I could care less about and don't want to see all of them bunched up in a mess. I think it makes it easier to navigate and prioritize when they are attached to specific apps.

I am not a power user when it comes to phones. I use my phone for texting, Facebook, phone calls, and as an mp3 player. I have some games I play too, but nothing major. I use my computer for most gaming. the HTC 8x is an awesome phone though and, other than a few small but obvious issues which Microsoft should have addressed already, the OS is pretty fantastic.

Is there any way that microsoft will hear any of these complaints and maybe do something about them?
I'm new to windows phone, bought a lumia 920 at the start of the year, and am much happier with it than my previous android phone, but there are some big software deficiencies with WP8, which if resolved, would be a major boon for the platform.
One thing android did well was behave like a computer, now i'm not calling for a completely open platform, because in som ways, a closed garden has its advantages in a phone, but it's very annoying that WP8 won't let you download things from the internet or the email program is severely limited in what can be attached.
I just hope that MS is as enthusiastic as I am for the platform to be great and pay attention to what the users are screaming out for.

I am with my second windows phone now. it's sorta great with some shortcomings and bugs, but I like my lumia 920, but if my phone for some reason breakes or getting lost before those changes you listed are made to windows phone, I am going back to Android. Too many missing things on windows phone and also it looks like microsoft doesn't give a damn about what users need. I am tired of waiting for simple thing. Life is too short to support those who don't deserve it by becoming better.

I just had a thought: Rather than "x" to close, why not follow Windows 8 and drag down to the bottom of the screen to close? X to close has the problems of either the X being to small to hit reliably (I have to use an iPad Mini at work and run into this all the time) or so large that it might get hit accidentally. A gesture to close seems more robust.

Did anybody observed this issue on Nokia Lumia 520 :
Phone volume is not in your control when you are playing the songs from Nokia music store OR playing songs from Youtube ? Why Why ? Don't think it should control all ?
Tips : Please spread this message till it reaches to the developer and let the patch comes for this, so that phone should be able to control the volume whatever you play on the phone.

My win phone wont let me play the songs from an album in the right order!...and I want see them in their folders... If i have an album of songs with filenames like "01 title", "02 title" etc.. i want to be able to play them in that order.. or atleast see the god damn filename so that i can make a playlist (wich i really shouldnt have to do since they are sorted already)... Noone wants music to only be sorted by id3 tag!! Most of us don't know how to edit tha, and dont want to do that at all.. justy listen to the songs like a mormal mp3 player.. or like on a computer.. but i guess microsoft is moving away from those.. and thast im moving to linux or some shit ...Microsoft = dumbest company in the world???

I have another suggestion (in my opinion it's very important):
Microsoft should allow installing apps on external storages such as Micro SD so people with small-internal-storage windows phones (such as Nokia Lumia 820, 720) can install many apps as much as they can (Android Can do that)
I hope Microsoft would do this :D :D ( I think this will give Windows Phones a strong push)

NEEDED THOUGH
Needed is a USB or bluetooth synch software so I do not have to use Exchange or hotmail to synch my work calendar (hotmail connector is just useful ONE time, when you copy the entire calendar)
It is really silly that WP8 is the only OS where you can NOT synch with cable nor can you make a "real phone image" - just an OTA backup that is half baked??

Thank you. Got my Lumia 1020 a week ago. Really need at least five of these items fixed.
There are tons of photos on my camera that I cannot see when I view photos in the camera roll. When plugged into PC I can see. How can you see them on phone?

There are so many things that this OS needs upgrading on, but the most egregious perhaps is an option, or an app, to change the function of the Bing button to something more useful. I use the Search button maybe once a week. It could be sooo much more useful doing any number of different things.

What I would find most useful is :
1) Speed Dial ( Or Favourites)
2) Sleep mode ( to accpet calls only from specified numbers - as and when set)
3) Good task manager / reminder
4) Display call duration
I also find that even on a flagship model like Lumia 925 the GPS location detection is not very good and the when found the arrow points in different direction from the road.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. WP8 doesn't need more features; it needs to work better first with the features it already provides (or makes a weak attempt at providing). Try more flexibility/flow with NFC so it can be used the way you know it should work. Try making a working YouTube app (for the third time). Try making e-mails download faster than five minutes. Try figuring out what makes you so unappealing to game-changing app developers like those of Spotify and Facebook, which are both appallingly terrible even compared to on other platforms. Try making a version of this OS that's worth enough of a crap to be more compatible with apps from older versions. Try being compatible with extremely popular music formats like Apple's - being asshats about brand loyalty will only keep me far away from the Xbox store, which is about as poor as Spotify's current app. Hell, even try making necessary app interruptions to my music simply lower the volume on my music instead of silencing it. Anything but this bloated list of features lifted from other platforms. This OS needs polishing, not a bunch of frankenfeatures no one gives a crap about because they're too busy worrying about how many apps other platforms have; screw them.

How about the ability to listen to voice messages from Xbox Live? It's a phone! Better yet, how about the ability to respond to voice messages as well. It would make for an extremely streamlined gaming experience. The fact that you can access your gaming messages on the go? Respond with voice, no matter what devices your on? I think that's a gamer's dream that is very likely to happen in the near future.

*Note: I have a Nokia Lumia 720. I love WP, but it can be better. Although my first 'wish' is that WP8 phones should be able to update to WP8.1 (I hope that its true), this list is what I believe that MS can do to improve WP. Not in a particular order though.

Central Notification centre. Be it either a drop down or a swipe method. Add quick settings and profile modes in that too.

A native proper file manager.(what exactly is in the 'other' section anyway). If possible integrate that with OneDrive (formerly Skydrive).

A proper application manager which lets you manage ALL your installed apps. Even choosing alternative apps for launching websites certain file types. Stop with the stupidly tight integration MIscrosoft, your services amy be good but allow us to choose what we want.

Better IE. No more restrictive 6 tabs limitaion and better synching with the PC version, back and forward buttons, open in background tab and most importantly, private browsing mode (I don't care what anyone thinks, I want my privacy). And Universal search too.

Installing Apps offline too.(Doesn't make sense that you need internet connection to install free apps, make it necessary for paid apps obviously), and allow apps to be installed on SD Card. remove isolated storage.

True Multitasking. Please not again one those 'resuming' again. And no back button spamming bullshit either. I would love a multitasking window similar to MeeGo.

Indepedent Volume controls and Profile modes. It is a mobile phone.

Better Office and OneNote, or competent alternatives.

Better native email.

Better apps and games obviously.

Better integraion with Xbox, be it music, games, apps. Doesn't make sense to buy a WP then, right?

WP also must disable network internet data when WiFi is connected. It uses both and if you forget manually disabling, you may ran out of your GSM internet silently. Hope Data Sense notifies you before it's too late. I've lost 500 MB data in a single hour because of Tumlblr app, when I was perfectly connected to my own home wireless.

One touch speed dial from home screen is also a necessity.

Lack of Android swype like typing style is the worst issue in my WP experience.

They need to do like a windows xp remix or xp2 or something of that nature Windows XP was ten timesmore user freindly than windows 8 they need to go back to the basics you will always need a home computer in my opinion. They need to Educate people better and stop dumbing down the Operating Sytems. Make Windows that optimizes the use of solid state drives and current processors and, make it connect better with current devices ie phones tablets etc.